Originally Posted by themicah[list
[*]What's up with the "nothing may be placed in the seat back pockets" policy? I've flown a lot in the last couple years on a ton of non-UA carriers and have never heard that, but it was announced and enforced on 3 of 4 flights this trip (two mainline 733 and one Chataqua EMB170--the AWAC CRJ flight didn't have that announcement).[*]The EMB170 "fright crew" also made an announcement on landing that cellphones could not be used until the aircraft was parked and the door open. The other three flights (like the vast majority of domestic flights I've taken in the last few years) allowed cellphone use as soon as the wheels hit the ground.[/list]
The "nothing in seat back pockets" seems to be unique to Chautauqua E170s in my experience. I've heard this announcement on several (but not all) flights. And they didn't mean just laptops; one FA explicitly stated that "FAA regulations" permitted nothing other than the saftey-card, in-flight magazine, and barf bag to be in the seatpocket for takeoff/landing. And I've seen them enforce it against deadheading pilots' hats and pax newspapers and such. Seems like extreme paranoia to me. I can keep a giant hardback book on my lap but not a magazine in the seat pocket? Stupid.
Chautauqua E170s are also the plane that has in the safety recording, "federal regulations require that all passengers be aware of the location of the flight-deck door," which is one of the silliest anouncements I have ever heard.
As for the cell phones, my understanding is that the brand new E170 hasn't yet been certified for cell phone use after landing. So FAs tend to announce it often. But it is a hopeless battle for Chautauqua to fight as most UA pax are used to using cell phones after landing; my default behavior is to check my email/pages as soon as we are off the active runway. And "certifying" planes for cell phone use on the ground must be one of the biggest jokes out there. If there were a problem, it would have been exposed in the test flights as a taxiing aircraft is being bombarded by RF radiation from both inside and outside the plane, including cell-phone radiation from other nearby aircraft/vehicles/buildings.